The Beach House

Amazon.com

There are no big surprises in The Beach House, but it's vintage Patterson, with plenty of action, villains with hearts blacker than obsidian, and a working-class hero who pulls himself up by the bootstraps. Patterson and de Jonge previously coauthored the inspirational golf romance Miracle on the 17th Green, but this new game of money, mayhem, and murder clearly suits them to a tee. --Barrie Trinkle

Book Description

James Patterson and Peter de Jonge's The Beach House opens with the death of a handsome townie on Memorial Day weekend in the Hamptons, where being a single-digit millionaire is laughable and being poor is unthinkable.Peter Mullen is a high school dropout who parks cars at the private bashes of the superwealthy Barry and Campion Neubauer. When Peter is found dead on the beach, the Neubauers and their friends insist that he drowned, but his brother Jack, a law student who saw Peter's body, knows he was beaten to death. As Jack uncovers evidence of his brother's secret life, he begins to realize that the very rich are indeed different from the rest of us. Revenge is a dish best served cold, and Jack's patiently plotted payback for Peter's death is one that the Hamptons will not soon forget. There are no big surprises in The Beach House, but it's vintagePatterson, with plenty of action, villains with hearts blacker than obsidian,and a working-class hero who pulls himself up by the bootstraps. Patterson andde Jonge previously coauthored the inspirational golf romance Miracle on the 17th Green, butthis new game of money, mayhem, and murder clearly suits them to a tee.--Barrie Trinkle

Customer Reviews:

Entertaining, Quick, Suspenseful Read of the Summer.......2007-07-27

I could not put this book down. I especially enjoyed Patterson's reference to real life scenarios and applaud his accounts in multicultural writings and versatility from music references to basketball. The book will keep you on your toes. I wish there could have been a better ending as I really liked 'Tom'. Definitely recommend it especially for the not so serious reader, like myself. I thoroughly enjoyed it and you will too.

Beach House - Not my favorite by a long shot.......2007-07-19

I just never got into this book. I'm an avid fan of James Patterson's books... I've purchased so many at airports across the country it is almost comical.

But this one never really drew my in like most others. There just wasn't enough depth to any of the characters and their relationships to each other were missing something. And the ending just did not make sense. I didn't feel there were enough clues to lead me to say "aha" at the end.

Short story - I was disappointed. I won't quit reading... just disappointed in this yarn.

Great Book!.......2007-07-11

I loved this book! I read it in a day and a half, couldnt put it down. Loved the plot-people taking the law into their own hands. highly recommend!

BY James Patterson & Peter De Jonge?.......2007-06-14

I think Patterson could have done without the help. I like Patterson's style and move-along plots. This plot however, with the autopsy on Peter's body getting passed off as a drowning-suicide, was a disappointment. The rich buy the courts, but not with the kinds of evidence the coroner presented. The ending really frosts the cake when they have their "Kangaroo Court" in the abandoned Beach house over a two-day span. Since it wasn't terrible, I can only give three stars.

J. P. Landry, author of Hazard 666

Hard to believe its a Patterson book!.......2007-06-10

What a waste of time spending that much time, then to have an ending that doesn't make sense at all!! Feel that I wasted my time and money on this one. After recently readingJudge and Jury , hard to believe its written by same person. If you want a good one, pick up Judge & Jury.

Grand Hotels of the Jazz Age: The Architecture of Schultze and Weaver

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Jazzed

Grand Hotels of the Jazz Age: The Architecture of Schultze and Weaver

Manufacturer: Princeton Architectural Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 156898555X

Book Description

The Breakers, the Waldorf, the Biltmore, the Sherry, the Pierre—these landmark hotels are synonymous with grand luxury and style. When they were built, in the 1920s, their refined elegance and grandeur set the bar for hotels and resorts the world over. Responsible for creating these and countless other hotels throughout the United States, were the partners of a single architectural firm: Schultze & Weaver. Together, this duo—an architect and an engineer—virtually invented the glamorous lifestyle made famous in films like Grand Hotel. Catering to the social elite of which they were themselves a part, Schultze & Weaver synthesized the Old World style of Renaissance Italy, Moorish Spain, and Georgian England with all of the modern amenities that made hotel living luxurious.

This book presents portfolios of fifteen of the firm’s most spectacular hotels, culminating in the Art Moderne masterpiece of the Waldorf-Astoria. Over two hundred period photographs and hand-colored architectural renderings chart the ascent of the American hotel in all its glory and glamour, before the Great Depression forever changed the lifestyles of America's rich and famous. Essays address the cultural and technological developments that underpin the creation of resort and residential hotels, including the elemental role played by Schultze & Weaver.

This book is published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Wolfsonian-Florida International University, Miami, held in celebration of their tenth anniversary.

Customer Reviews:

Jazzed.......2006-01-21

This book is a wonderful tribute to the gradeur of an amazing time in American History. These hotels are just spectacular, they really just don't have the masons or the desire quite frankly, to build buildings like this anymore. The black and white images in this book are simply breath taking, they are so crisp and elegant. The reader really gets a feel for what the hotels looked like at their inseption, at the time they where inspired. The Jazz Age was an era of unbelieveble wealth for a lucky few and they enjoyed spending it and expected only the best, there was a real sence of America starting her accendency to greatness and the affluent wanted to show that the best of America could rival anything in Europe, this was the catalist for these sumptuous hotels. The Jazz Age is of course long gone, but we have examples, like these grand hotels, to remind of an era of opulent wealth..and no income tax.

Average customer rating:

The Sea will make readers cry and cheer for the love of it.
The Power and Peril of Memory
Fascinatingly repelling and attracting at once
Good read
All Life Is Lived In The Past

The Sea (Man Booker Prize)
John Banville
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Irish | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0307263118
Release Date: 2005-11-01

From Amazon.co.uk Review

Incandescent prose. Beautifully textured characterisation. Transparent narratives. The adjectives to describe the writing of John Banville are all affirmative, and The Sea is a ringing affirmation of all his best qualities. His publishers are claiming that this novel by the Booker-shortlisted author is his finest yet, and while that claim may have an element of hyperbole, there is no denying that this perfectly balanced book is among the writer's most accomplished work.

Max Morden has reached a crossroads in his life, and is trying hard to deal with several disturbing things. A recent loss is still taking its toll on him, and a trauma in his past is similarly proving hard to deal with. He decides that he will return to a town on the coast at which he spent a memorable holiday when a boy. His memory of that time devolves on the charismatic Grace family, particularly the seductive twins Myles and Chloe. In a very short time, Max found himself drawn into a strange relationship with them, and pursuant events left their mark on him for the rest of his life. But will he be able to exorcise those memories of the past?

The fashion in which John Banville draws the reader into this hypnotic and disturbing world is non pareil, and the very complex relationships between his brilliantly delineated cast of characters are orchestrated with a master's skill. As in such books as Shroud and The Book of Evidence, the author eschews the obvious at all times, and the narrative is delivered with subtlety and understatement. The genuine moments of drama, when they do occur, are commensurately more powerful. --Barry Forshaw

Book Description

The author of The Untouchable (“contemporary fiction gets no better than this”—Patrick McGrath, The New York Times Book Review) now gives us a luminous novel about love, loss, and the unpredictable power of memory.

The narrator is Max Morden, a middle-aged Irishman who, soon after his wife’s death, has gone back to the seaside town where he spent his summer holidays as a child—a retreat from the grief, anger, and numbness of his life without her. But it is also a return to the place where he met the Graces, the well-heeled vacationing family with whom he experienced the strange suddenness of both love and death for the first time. The seductive mother; the imperious father; the twins—Chloe, fiery and forthright, and Myles, silent and expressionless—in whose mysterious connection Max became profoundly entangled, each of them a part of the “barely bearable raw immediacy” of his childhood memories.

Interwoven with this story are Morden’s memories of his wife, Anna—of their life together, of her death—and the moments, both significant and mundane, that make up his life now: his relationship with his grown daughter, Claire, desperate to pull him from his grief; and with the other boarders at the house where he is staying, where the past beats inside him “like a second heart.”

What Max comes to understand about the past, and about its indelible effects on him, is at the center of this elegiac, vividly dramatic, beautifully written novel—among the finest we have had from this extraordinary writer.

Customer Reviews:

The Sea will make readers cry and cheer for the love of it........2007-09-28

John Banville is a crying out loud genius. I am a writer, and this book will carry me through several of my own books on inspiration alone. I have read it four times friom front to back.
Only a consummate genius of spirit, language, and craft could possibly have written this. Reading it requires, I think, an inveterate reader, for its structure is complex. His description of place will take you there and leave you to inhabit the place.
I found it common to read and re-read passages, pages, and, as I said, the entire book it is so beautifully rendered.
The story is touching and real to my inner self, and he is able to paint me, my innermost thoughts, my love for exquisite detail, scene, memories, and people with such solid and true foundation that humanity within me was discovered, illuminated, and honored.
Blue? Lost? Afraid? Grieving? Satisfied with your lot? Think humanity has gone sadly astray? Read this book. I swear you will never forget it.

The Power and Peril of Memory.......2007-08-31

This is a very rewarding book that requires patience and close attention because of the narrative shifts in time and place.

The story revolves around middle aged Max. In the present, Max is grappling with the recent death of his wife. Clearly the pair had long been a "unit" and Max is quite at loss as to what to do next in her absence. Although he loves his adult daughter Claire, she is no substitute in his affection. So Max is drawn back to a place by the shore that he hadn't been for 50 years, a place where he has a typical early adolesent experience with the opposite sex and an untypical experience with tragedy. The past and present are expertly interwoven by Mr. Banville, who deservedly won his Booker for this effort.

Banville does an incredibly good job showing us the power and limits of memory and how things are remembered (or disremembered) lucidly or poorly.

I think only Ian McEwan today writes with quite the same degree of elegance. And actually, as I think about it, I could make an argument that there are interesting similarities between McEwan's "Atonement" and "The Sea". In each case, the narrator sees or thinks they see something that turns out not to be the case and, in each instance, with terrible consequences; although more obviously so in "Atonement".

Read it "The Sea" and see for yourself.

Fascinatingly repelling and attracting at once.......2007-06-04

I would never have picked up this book if it hadn't been on a friend's recommendation but, boy, am I glad I did. Normally I wouldn't want to read about an old man reminiscing but I was hooked from the very first by John Banvilles language.

Max Morden, the main character, alternates between remembering an important time in his adolescence and reviewing his marriage with emphasis on his wife's last months before she dies of cancer.

John Banville's style spellbound me from the first. It's poetry in prose form, every word, every sentence deliberately sculpted and positioned. I refused to be intimidated by his words and made it a challenge to add to my vocabulary.
As I became Max Morden's confidant I was equally repulsed by his honesty and intrigued by his insights. Max speaks about things that happen to all of us but you don't normally hear people admit to them or even mention them: acting out agressively towards a beloved pet, being abusive to other children, having sexual fantasies about adults while we are children or adolescents, hating people close to us just because they are who they are. He shares his regrets and at the same time realistically admits that he'd make the same mistakes again given the choice. He's refreshingly unapologetic.

It took me a while to finish the book and for a while I want to read easier fare; but I want to read more by Banville. He's as much an artist in his field as Gaugin, Goya, Courbet and others. He paints using language.

Good read.......2007-05-31

The temporal layers of the story make it a little bit confusing in the beginning, but by the end you understand this man's grief and search to find himself by going back to the town where he lived as a child, trying to make sense out of his life and who he has become. My book club read this and we all enjoyed the writing and story. Some people will not like this book. It is not a fast paced story, but it is a story full of emotion. Soo.... go read it.

All Life Is Lived In The Past.......2007-05-18

The Sea is a marvel of efficiency; in less than 200 pages, Banville writes a "memoir" that is spare and yet touching and profound.

The Sea is the story of a rapidly aging widower who, after the death of his wife, travels to the seaside resort town where he spent several summers as a child. Taking up residence in a long term boarding house filled with other hurting and lost souls, he thinks about his life; first his childhood summers and the life defining relationship and events of those years, then the days preceding and during his wife's illness and death, and then finally the unkind truth of his present life. These narratives are weaved together throughout the novel until they coalesce towards the end.

I could ramble on for a while about how much I liked this book, how true Banville's observations rung, how deep the sense of loss is, how scary it makes one feel about getting old. I could, but you should just buy the book and experience it for yourself.

Banville won the Mann Booker prize for The Sea. Some quotes:

"On the subject of observing and being observed, I must mention the long grim gander I took at myself in the bathroom mirror this morning. Usually these days I do not dally before my reflection any longer than is necessary. There was a time when I quite liked what I saw in the looking-glass, but not any more. Now I am startled, and more than startled, by the visage that so abruptly appears there, never and not at all the one that I expect. I have been elbowed aside by a parody of myself, a sadly disheveled figure in a Hallowe'en mask made of sagging pinkish -grey rubber that bears no more than a passing resemblance to the image of what I look like that I stubbornly retain in my head."

"When we arrived I marveled to see how much of the village as I remembered it was still here, if only for eyes that knew where to look, mine, that is. It was like encountering an old flame behind whose features thickened by age the slender lineaments that a former self so loved can still be clearly discerned."

"I looked aside quickly for fear my eyes would give me away; one's eyes are always those of someone else, the mad and desperate dwarf crouched within. I knew what she meant. This was not supposed to have befallen her. It was not supposed to have befallen us, we were not that kind of people. Misfortune, illness, untimely death, these things happen to good folk, the humble ones, the salt of the earth, not to Anna, not to me."

"I recalled walking in the street with Anna one day after all her hair had fallen out and she spotted passing by on the pavement a woman who was also bald. I do not know if Anna caught me catching the look they exchanged, the two of them, blank-eyed and at the same time sharp, sly, complicit. In all that endless twelvemonth of her illness I do not think I ever felt more distant from her than I did at that moment, elbowed aside by the sorority of the afflicted."

"[my daughter] understands me to a degree that is disturbing and will not indulge my foibles and excesses as others do who know me less and therefore fear me more. But I am bereaved and wounded and require indulging. If there is a long version of shrift, then that is what I am in need of. Let me alone, I cried at her in my mind, let me creep past the traduced old Cedars, past the vanished Strand Café, past the Lupins and the Field that was, past all this past for if I stop I shall surely dissolve in a shaming puddle of tears."

"Have I spoken already of my drinking? I drink like a fish. No, not like a fish, fishes do not drink, it is only breathing, their kind of breathing. I drink like one recently widowed-widowered? - a person of scant talent and scanter ambition, greyed o'er by the years, uncertain and astray and in need of consolation and the brief respite of drink-induced oblivion. I would take drugs if I had them, but I have not, and do not know how I might go about getting some."

Canyon Ranch Cooks: More Than 200 Delicious, Innovative Recipes from America's Leading Health Resort

Average customer rating:

Great gift for cooks!
Canyon Ranch Cooks: More Than 200 Delicious, Innovative Recipes from America's Leading Health Resort
New favorite cookbook!!!
Surprisingly Tasty
Great food, healthy too

Canyon Ranch Cooks: More Than 200 Delicious, Innovative Recipes from America's Leading Health Resort
Barry Correia , and Scott Uehlein
Manufacturer: Rodale Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Healthy | Special Diet | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Healthy Living | Personal Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1579548474

Book Description

The same healthy philosophy and delicious recipes that have attracted so many devotees to Canyon Ranch is now at your fingertips in this richly illustrated cookbook. Canyon Ranch's executive chefs have collaborated with their nutritionists to create this beautiful book that blends innovative cuisine and nutritional expertise. With 214 new recipes, the wide variety of dishes will appeal to all tastes and cooking styles. These easy-to-follow recipes are within the grasp of even the most timid home chefs. Ninety lush color photographs provide inspiration and guidance. Canyon Ranch Cooks incorporates the Canyon Ranch philosophy of Nutritional Intelligence-considering nutrition while using common sense, listening to your body's needs, and enjoying the many delights of eating. From soups to desserts, Canyon Ranch Cooks will inspire people who like to cook and tantalize anyone who eats.

Customer Reviews:

Great gift for cooks!.......2007-05-30

"Canyon Ranch Cooks" offers tempting, delicious and healthful recipes tht anyone can make. The photographs and world-class quality of the book will make it a treasured addition to the library of friends and family alike.

Canyon Ranch Cooks: More Than 200 Delicious, Innovative Recipes from America's Leading Health Resort.......2007-05-12

I can only find ingredients for some of the recipes but they sound good.

New favorite cookbook!!!.......2007-04-25

I can't fully express how much I have enjoyed cooking from this book. I have always loved collecting cookbooks and making interesting recipes from them. However, January 1 I decided that I wanted to take charge of my lifestyle and eat more healthily. I was disapointed as I started to look at most healthy cookbooks available. They seemed like healthy retools of Betty Crocker favorites and often seemed to use a lot of very processed ingredients. Or they seemed very focused on the health aspect of food with little emphasis on taste.

What I love about this food is that it tastes amazing and oh by the way, happens to be healthy too. So far I have made three recipes and all have turned out great. I especially like the vanilla bean ice cream recipe as it is so easy to experiment with other flavors and tastes amazing. I don't miss full fat ice cream at all. The photography is also gorgeous. It makes me get very excited about what I am going to make. I also appreciate that there is a section on vegetarian meals because while I do eat fish, meat and poultry, I occasionally like to make something purely vegetarian and that section gives me some nice options.

Surprisingly Tasty.......2007-03-10

I was requested to cook from this cookbook and so I purchased it. I was really happily surprised by the sophisticated tastes of this healthy and mostly simple food. I am continuing to cook from it and am ready to try other Canyon Ranch books.

Great food, healthy too.......2006-11-10

I ordered this book site unseen after reading UltraMetabolism. This book is great for the average food lover, those with food intolerances and those who like to cook healthy. It has some staples such as salad dressings, to more inventive dishes that are still simple to prepare. Great all-around cookbook and I would recommend it to anyone.

Zagat 2007 Top U.S. Hotels, Resorts & Spas

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Zagat 2007 Top U.S. Hotels, Resorts & Spas

Manufacturer: Zagat Survey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Professional | Professional Cooking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Family Travel | Specialty Travel | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Travel | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1570068194

Book Description

ISBN: 1570068194 TITLE: 2007 Top U.S. Hotels, Resorts Spas AUTHOR: Zagat Survey DESCRIPTION: Consumer based survey covering the top-rated hotels, resorts spas across the U.S.A.

Average customer rating:

Excellent Book
Makes a Great Gift
A Great Gift For A Golfer
Great book on golf
dream golf...indeed!!

Dream Golf: The Making of Bandon Dunes
Stephen Goodwin
Manufacturer: Algonquin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies | Sports | Subjects | Books

Golf | Biographies | Sports | Subjects | Books

General | Golf | Sports | Subjects | Books

Courses | Golf | Sports | Subjects | Books

General | Sports | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1565125304

Book Description

This is the story of a man with a dream—as well as the vision and passion to make it come true. The dream was to build a great American links course, one that would contain all the excitement of the famous golfing destinations in Scotland and Ireland, storied places like St. Andrews and Ballybunion. The man was Mike Keiser, an entrepreneur and amateur golf enthusiast, founder of the successful company Recycled Paper Greetings, and Dream Golf is the story of how, with the help of some of the most colorful—and occasionally controversial—men in golf, he transformed a remote area on Oregon's Pacific coast into not one, but three of the most stunning, challenging, and highly ranked courses in the world.
It began modestly, when Mike Keiser decided to build a nine-hole "dunes" course and golf club on the shore of Lake Michigan, near his home in Chicago. The experience prompted him to look further, with the goal of realizing a dream that he had harbored for some time: to bring to American golfers the same kind of experience he had enjoyed while playing some of the legendary courses of the British Isles, "links" courses that had evolved naturally to fit the rugged, heaving coastal terrain. These ancient courses were the antithesis of most modern American courses, where the features were shaped by bulldozers and all too often look sleek, manicured, and artificial.
No, Bandon Dunes would be a "pure" golf experience, pitting the golfer against the elements, allowing the land to dictate the course, banning the use of carts, making the golfer feel at one with both nature and the game. To achieve that goal would take a great amount of planning and hard work, the struggle of man against nature in shaping the land into three courses that would become the Bandon Dunes complex. Conventional wisdom said it was impossible. And even if he built it, would anyone come to this remote Oregon outpost?
Dream Golf is the first complete account of how drive and determination, coupled with the best minds in the game, created a utopian golf experience in a place of breathtaking natural beauty. It is the gripping and compelling account of how one man followed his dream to its greatest conclusion.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Book.......2007-05-07

Fantastic story, very well written. A must read for not only golfers, but for environmentalist and landscape architects also.

Makes a Great Gift.......2007-04-10

This book is the perfect gift for your favorite golfer. Even non-golfers and golfers who don't normally read will enjoy this story of dream golf.

A Great Gift For A Golfer.......2007-01-22

We purchased this book for our son for Christmas, and it was a big hit!! He's already finished it and is loaning it out to friends and family. It's a wonderful book for any golfer with a love of the game, whether he/she has been to Bandon Dunes already or is perhaps dreaming of the day....

Great book on golf.......2007-01-03

First let me say that I haven't read this book. I bought it for my husband who never reads books. Never. I gave it to him when we went on vacation so he'd have something to read while laying in the sun. He read every day until he finished it. He kept regaling me with interesting facts and bits of information from the book, and he has recommended it to several friends.

dream golf...indeed!!.......2006-08-28

great book on a great place...golfers everywhere owe mike keiser a debt of gratitude for fulfilling his dream..i've had the pleasure of visiting bandon dunes a few times and can't wait to return...dream golf..indeed!!

Spa Business Strategies: A Plan for Success

Average customer rating:

Most Comprehensive Guide...
Great book with a wealth of information!

Spa Business Strategies: A Plan for Success
Janet M. D'Angelo
Manufacturer: Milady
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Strategy & Competition | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Systems & Planning | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Guides | Job Hunting & Careers | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Sports & Entertainment | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Beauty & Fashion | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Sports | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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Accessories:

philosophy hope in a jar daily moisturizer

ASIN: 1401881645

Book Description

Spa Business Strategies: A Plan for Success is a unique, must-have resource for any professional who wants to learn more about the business and marketing strategies vital to owning and operating a day spa. This book takes a thoughtful and interactive approach to the subject matter, and the easy-to-read language and user-friendly format provide the spa owner, manager, or potential spa owner with an opportunity to tackle some of the more important tasks necessary to develop successful business practices. Important business concepts such as marketing, financing, utilizing technology, promoting sales, improving communication, and developing excellent customer service skills are discussed, among others. The author uses thought-provoking questionnaires, targeted worksheets, and practical examples to illustrate key concepts. The text is also focused on encouraging the day spa owner or manager to develop critical thinking skills that will promote solid business practices and sustain the continued growth of the day spa industry over time.

Customer Reviews:

Most Comprehensive Guide..........2006-05-02

What didn't Ms. D'Angelo cover? I can't think of anything! A mass of valuable information for anyone considering the Spa business. This book will be an invaluable guide for my business for a long time. It has done the work and the research for me. With the most up to date information for todays marketplace. A comprehensive outline for bringing a vision to reality and beyond. I feel so much more confident now in where to start and how to market and promote my business and how to keep it fresh and viable into the future. I'm so grateful for this book.

Great book with a wealth of information!.......2006-03-17

An easy read with lots of valuable information on how to do it right the first time. Plenty of resources listed to gather more info from, as well as the importance of the marketing plan and how to go about it. Even if our are already established the book offers many useful tools for successful business operations.

The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror

Average customer rating:

The Stupidest yet funniest Angel
MY Angle on the Angel
A Wonderful Phanasy
Absolutely hysterical
Great Book

The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror
Christopher Moore
Manufacturer: William Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Comic | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0060842350
Release Date: 2005-11-01

Book Description

'Twas the night (okay, more like the week) before Christmas, and all through the tiny community of Pine Cove, California, people are busy buying, wrapping, packing, and generally getting into the holiday spirit.

But not everybody is feeling the joy. Little Joshua Barker is in desperate need of a holiday miracle. No, he's not on his deathbed; no, his dog hasn't run away from home. But Josh is sure that he saw Santa take a shovel to the head, and now the seven-year-old has only one prayer: Please, Santa, come back from the dead.

But hold on! There's an angel waiting in the wings. (Wings, get it?) It's none other than the Archangel Raziel come to Earth seeking a small child with a wish that needs granting. Unfortunately, our angel's not sporting the brightest halo in the bunch, and before you can say "Kris Kringle," he's botched his sacred mission and sent the residents of Pine Cove headlong into Christmas chaos, culminating in the most hilarious and horrifying holiday party the town has ever seen.

Move over, Charles Dickens -- it's Christopher Moore time.

Download Description

Christmas crept into Pine Cove like a creeping Christmas thing: dragging garland, ribbon, and sleigh bells, oozing eggnog, reeking of pine, and threatening festive doom like a cold sore under the mistletoe.

But hold on! There's an angel waiting in the wings. (Wings, get it?) It's none other than the Archangel Raziel come to Earth seeking a small child with a wish that needs granting. Unfortunately, our angel's not sporting the brightest halo in the bunch, and before you can say ""Kris Kringle,"" he's botched his sacred mission and sent the residents of Pine Cove headlong into Christmas chaos, culminating in the most hilarious and horrifying holiday party the town has ever seen.

Only Christopher Moore, the man who brought you the outrageous lost gospel Lamb and the hysterical fish tale Fluke could have devised a new holiday classic that tugs at the heartstrings and serves up a healthy slice of fruitcake to boot.

Move over, Charles Dickens -- it's Christopher Moore time.

Customer Reviews:

The Stupidest yet funniest Angel.......2007-09-02

I had this book on cd and was standing in line at the DMV so I was able to listen to the entire book while waiting. Just kidding. I was laughing out loud and getting funny looks. I told those who were not trying to avoid eye contact with me they have to buy this book is is just too funny.

MY Angle on the Angel.......2007-08-24

I'm a huge Christopher Moore fan, have enjoyed all of his writings to date, and this book met all my expectations of wit, wry humor, and warped storylines featuring many of the eccentric personalities I've grown to know and adore in Pine Cove and from other Moore books. I recommend starting with "Practical Demonkeeping" (the first book in Christopher Moore's series and the reader's intro to Pine Cove) and following his array of books in the order he's written them. All are winners, just some more special than others. Enjoy!

A Wonderful Phanasy.......2007-08-23

Should you wish to be cheered and if you can take off beat humour, then this CD is for you. The presentation and voices are unusually good and the use of slightly weird Christmas music adds to the glow. The story is a joy, prepostorous, wild and it makes fun of so much that is tripe. You'll laugh, even if your alone.

Absolutely hysterical.......2007-07-25

I decided to buy this book after reading half of the first paragraph -- and it just got better from there. I read it twice in the first week. Check out the "Search Inside" function on this one!

Great Book.......2007-07-13

The Stupidest Angel is funny, clever, and surprizing. I got to like the characters; in fact I'd like to be their friend. They are real, vunerable,funny and really screwed up.

Average customer rating:

Resorts: Management and Operation
Robert Christie Mill
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Hospitality, Travel & Tourism | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Finance | New & Used Textbooks | Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

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ASIN: 0471361887

Book Description

Authoritative coverage of every aspect of resort management and operation
The resort industry is booming, increasing the demand for energetic management personnel well-versed in the unique issues and problems of resort management and operations. From activity programming, guest safety, and security to corporate and meeting planning, the management of seasonal employees, and more, Resorts: Management and Operation provides professionals and students with need-to-know information on a host of resort-specific issues.

The book focuses on the three essential elements of the resort industry-recreational facilities, lodging/food and beverage, and guest activities. It explains the relationship between the natural resource base and the development of recreational facilities; discusses the operational and logistical challenges that resort managers face; and demonstrates the development of revenue-producing, guest-satisfying activities based on demographic and psychographic factors as well as the physical ability of the guest.
This completely practical guide features thorough coverage of:

Ski areas, golf and tennis resorts, spas, theme parks, gaming, and more
Resort design principles and practices
Marketing the resort experience
Resort economics
Guest activity format structure, management, and evaluation

Filled with industry examples that illustrate problems and solutions, Resorts: Management and Operation provides in-depth knowledge of a broad spectrum of issues and gives readers the indispensable preparation and confidence they need to achieve success in one of the world's most glamorous and demanding industries.

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Junior high level murder mystery...and that's going a long way!
Delish Mystery
Cookie Mystery
Murder Mystery
Favorite of the Series

Tough Cookie
Diane Mott Davidson
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Women Sleuths | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0553107232
Release Date: 2000-02-29

Amazon.com

Fans of Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Schulz, the gourmet gumshoe of Aspen Meadow, Colorado, love her modus operandi: "Treat every puzzle with questions and chocolate." In Tough Cookie, Davidson's ninth culinary mystery, Goldy is waiting to reopen her catering business, which has been shut down by the health department for lack of adequate drains. She's got a PBS cooking gig for a few weeks, and is trying to build a reputation as a personal chef, but she's desperate for a little extra Christmas cash, so she agrees to sell a pair of vintage skis to Doug Portman, a local art critic and former sort-of-romantic interest.

When Portman's killed in a skiing accident at Killdeer Resort with Goldy nearby, the police treat her with suspicion. It turns out that Portman was the easily persuaded head of the Parole Board, and Goldy's ex-husband (a.k.a. The Jerk, who was imprisoned for domestic violence) is coming up for parole. But when Goldy herself narrowly escapes a chilly death after her van is forced off a snowy highway, she starts looking for connections and steps into a minefield of unsolved murders, including the three-year-old avalanche death of her friend Nate Bullock. There're a multitude of suspicious characters lurking around Killdeer: Barton Reed, a crazy ex-con who sent Portman a letter loaded with poison; Arthur Wakefield, whose wealthy mother was also killed in a skiing accident at Killdeer; Jack Gilkey, a handsome young chef who was convicted of manslaughter in the death of Wakefield's mother (and released by Portman); Boots Faraday, a local artist; and even Rorry Bullock, Nate's angry widow. As usual, Goldy manages to solve the murders (with the help of Chocolate Coma Cookies), save her own skin (just!), skewer a few local snobs in passing, and revive her catering business. Lots of fun, and recipes too. --Barrie Trinkle

Book Description

The New York Times bestselling author of Prime Cut serves up another tantalizing tale of culinary mystery and suspense--as chef turned sleuth Goldy Schulz goes on live television to prepare a meal to die for...but discovers that murder is already on the menu.

When Goldy Schulz is offered a temporary stint hosting a cooking show for PBS, she jumps at the chance. After all, she could use the money--not to mention the great exposure. Her catering business is in shambles, and publicizing her new venture as a personal chef will help get her back on track. Plus taping the shows at Colorado's posh Killdeer Ski Resort will be fun. A little cooking, a little chitchat. What could go wrong?

The question Goldy should have asked is, what wouldn't go wrong--especially when she has to drive through a blizzard to do one of her shows live for a PBS telethon.

To make matters worse, Goldy has an unpleasant duty to perform right after the show. She and her policeman husband, Tom, have agreed to sell a piece of Tom's treasured war memorabilia to help ease their financial woes. The buyer: Doug Portman, art critic, law enforcement wannabe--and, to her eternal embarrassment, Goldy's ex-boyfriend.

Predictably, the live broadcast is riddled with culinary catastrophes--from the Chesapeake Crabcakes right down to the Ice-Capped Ginger Snaps. But the deadliest dish of all comes after the cameras go off, when an unexplainable skiing accident claims Doug Portman's life--and Goldy is the one who finds his crumpled body on the slopes. Even more shocking is what police find tucked away in Doug's BMW: a greeting card with a potentially deadly chemical inside.

As the police try to determine if Doug's accident was really foul play, Goldy does a little investigating of her own--but finds more questions than answers. Was Doug, chairman of the state Parole Board, accepting bribes from potential parolees? Was he connected to the ex-con who's been telling Killdeer skiers that he's planning to poison a cop? And how did Goldy and Tom get mixed up in this mess?

When a series of suspicious mishaps places Goldy's own life in jeopardy, she knows she must whip up her own crime-solving recipe, and fast--before a hearty dose of intrigue and a deadly dash of danger ends her cooking career once and for all....

Winter sports can be dangerous, but can they also be deadly? "Cooking at the Top!," Goldy's new TV show, is broadcast from one of Colorado's poshest ski areas. Unfortunately, she finds whipping up delicacies at 11,000 feet as perilous as skiing steep runs. Then a telethon raising money for the widow of a tracker killed mysteriously ends in disaster. Goldy finds herself searching the icy slopes to find a killer with desperate secrets to hide---but this may be one time the tough-cookie caterer will not be able to schuss to safety!

Included are Goldy's original recipes for mouthwatering Sonora Chicken Strudel, incomparable Marmalade Mogul Muffins, and sinfully sumptuous Chocolate Coma Cookies. -->

Customer Reviews:

Junior high level murder mystery...and that's going a long way!.......2007-08-30

I picked up this book in a used booked store in Powell River, British Columbia, while waiting for a ferry to Vancouver. I didn't know that culinary murder mysteries was a genre and this book was part of a series of similar mishaps. Where was the warning label?

The author sets up her heroine as a gourmet-wannabe Nancy Drew running after inept murderers while strewing recipe cards along her trail. She dishes out food descriptions ad nauseam and then raves over them until you want to gag her with a kitchen towel. All the while, she insults her readers' intelligence by serving up as novelty that age old recipe of suspecting the evil looking guy first, and then making her model character the evil culprit!

If you're a fan of this author's work you'll probably enjoy it. But if this is your first time try, be aware that it is definitely an acquired taste. I'll pass on seconds.

Delish Mystery.......2007-07-29

I discovered Diane Mott Davidson with this book and was so glad I did. I immediately went backward and read the rest of the series, and I'm still reading forward, moving toward her latest PB release Dark Tort. I highly recommend this series. Goldy is a caterer and a sleuth. Each mystery tale comes with a delicious list of recipes (prepared by Goldy during the course of the story). In Tough Cookie, Goldy is temporarily hosting a local TV cooking show when so much goes wrong! Cooking disasters on the set, a blizzard, and then a dead body. She finds it herself and unfortunately for her, it turns out to be her ex-boyfriend. Goldy begins to investigate to determine whether her ex was murdered or not. And it leads to real danger for her. Goldy is married to police investigator Tom in this outing, but in her earlier books, we get a nice build up of their relationship, starting with how they met in her first book, Catering to Nobody. I suggest you start with #1 Catering to Nobody and work your way up to this one and beyond. You'll be glad you did. Delicious!

Cookie Mystery.......2007-07-21

I love this series of Goldie mysteries...a good combination of great receipes and a good mystery in each

Murder Mystery.......2007-05-12

Love these books. Have read them all to date. Arrived as promised.

Favorite of the Series.......2007-04-19

Tough Cookie finds Goldy in the thick of some serious drama, but she gets through with smarts, determination and wit. I love the Goldy character because she's brave, funny and nurturing. Finally - a wife and mother who loves her job (and sex) too!

I put this as my favorite of the Goldy mysteries because of the end - which you have to read to believe. It'll leave you breathless, thinking `How's Goldy gonna get out of this one?' Sure, the likelihood of so many murders going on in one town is ridiculous. And would Goldy really be so front-and-center in these people's lives? I doubt it, but since Ms. Davidson tells such ripping good yarns, I don't care.

That being said, somebody please smack Arch. PLEASE! Sure he's a teenager, but until the kid's paying his own bills in his own house, he needs a kick in the pants. Still, my extreme annoyance with him is just what the author wanted - when you experience real emotion toward a fictional character, that's good writing.

And who knew recipes could add so much flavor to a plotline? I've gotten to the point where I'm looking forward to a page or two of cookery. Davidson's food passages are so well-written they don't slow the pace one bit. Characters, storyline, occupational details, humor and heartstrings come together wonderfully in Davidson's mysteries. I hope she writes a mystery with Goldy on her dream trip to Italy.

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